By Tim Wester
Sports Correspondent
Where would the Union Grove boys tennis team be without Nico Zelinger?
It’s a question that Broncos’ coach Mike Brannen is thankful that he doesn’t have to answer.
Zelinger came to the team this season as an exchange student from Germany and hasn’t missed a beat.
Zelinger and CJ Mauer won the No.1 doubles championship at the Southern Lakes Conference championship at Westosha Central High School Saturday, May 13.
The duo’s efforts helped the Broncos finish fifth in the team standings with 12 points.
“If we don’t have Nico, the team would be set up totally different,” Brannen said. “And we’d probably have totally different results because he has made such a big difference. We are very happy to have Nico this year.”
Meanwhile at No. 2 singles, Jacob Genal placed third, while Alec Dam took fourth at No.1 singles.
Overall, Brannen was happy with his team’s performance.
“Our team placed higher in the tournament than we did in the regular season, finishing sixth,” Brannen said. “They achieved a higher level.”
Despite not finishing the regular season as well as planned, Brannen sees potential for his team as they prepare for subsectionals next Tuesday or Wednesday. Before that, they Broncos have one more warmup today at the East Troy Quadrangular.
“This year has been sort of a year of almost,” Brannen said. “We lost three 4-3 matches this year and if you turn those around in our favor we finish a lot higher in the conference, so we were close.”
“We have plenty of potential with guys like Alec Dam, CJ, and Nico, along with Jacob,” Brannen said. I’d like to see what they can do and am looking forward to seeing if they can realize their potential this postseason.”
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